World Suicide Prevention Day, observed annually on September 11, was established by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and supported by the United Nations and World Health Organization. This day aims to raise awareness about suicide, reduce stigma, and encourage coordinated programs to reduce suicide rates globally. Finland used to have the highest suicide rate worldwide, but in the past three decades the country managed to halve their suicide rate. In 2024, for the 7th time in a row the country is ranked as happiest country in the world. ‘It’s often referred to as the Finnish Miracle’, says Timo Partonen, professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

‘But it wasn’t ‘just’ a miracle,’ Partonen continues. The Nordic country that is home to 5.5 million people, was the first to establish a research-based national program for suicide prevention. The prevention project started in 1986 until 1996, and was successful. ‘One of the two most critical factors for this decrease was a change in practices of professionals, especially those of general practitioners working in primary healthcare, to treat patients having depression better’, says Partonen. ‘Also, increasing general wellbeing and new, safe and effective antidepressive agents must have played a role’, Sami Pirkola Professor of Social Psychiatry from Tampere University, adds. 

The second most impactful element of the national program was the change in how suicides were reported in the media. By limiting specific details, the aim was to reduce the likelihood of triggering imitation behavior, known as the ‘copycat effect.’ The ‘copycat effect’ refers to the phenomenon where exposure to suicide stories in the media leads to a rise in similar incidents. This approach helped minimize sensationalism while still addressing the issue. Scientific researchers have found that media coverage of suicides, particularly those involving celebrities, significantly increases the risk of copycat suicides. Notably, real-life cases are more likely to trigger copycat behaviors compared to fictional portrayals, and newspaper coverage has been shown to be more influential than televised reports. ‘​​Finnish media has revised its approach to reporting suicides in an effort to mitigate the risk of copycat incidents’, says Partonen.

Between 1990 and 2022, Finland’s suicide mortality rate decreased by 57 percent, from 31.0 to 13.3 per hundredthousand citizens. In comparison, the global average in 2021, according to the latest WHO data, was 9 suicides per hundredthousand citizens. However, direct comparisons are difficult, as many countries underreport suicide rates due to social stigma, cultural factors, or legal issues. ‘What other countries could learn from the Finnish suicide prevention program is increasing awareness, restricting lethal suicide methods such as pesticides, toxic pharmacological agents and high places for jumping. And also invest in educating health and social care workers’, says Pirkola.

Finland launched its second suicide prevention program in 2020, which will run until 2030. ‘At the moment, there is active research going on in monitoring the situational variation in suicidal thoughts, meaning that we would learn better to recognize the moments of the highest acute risk, such as impulses and hopelessness’, says Pirkola,’These findings could be very useful for the continuing of the prevention program.’

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